Posted inHead To Head

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Henderson vs Polar Capital

FSA compares the Henderson Horizon Global Technology Fund with the Polar Capital Global Technology Fund.
by Fund Selector Asia
Performance

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Three-year performance of the funds and the MSCI ACWI/Information Technology Index. Data: FE. Performance in US dollars.

Over the three-year period ending 4 August, the Henderson fund underperformed the index while the Polar Capital fund outperformed it. The difference is less visible on the one-year basis, with both funds outperforming the index, albeit the Polar Capital fund still comes out ahead.

Because of the Polar Capital fund’s unconstrained approach, “it should come as no surprise that this outperformance has been generated in a reasonably lumpy manner relative to the benchmark”, writes Meakin in a Morningstar fund report. The fund’s higher alpha (value added by active management), compared with the Henderson fund, comes with the cost of a higher beta (discrepancy of returns vs the index) and volatility.

  Henderson Polar Capital MSCI/ACWI Information Technology Index
3-year return 49.8% 64.8% 55.7%
1-year return 28.8% 32.1% 28.4%
3-year Alpha 2.73 4.24  
3-year Beta 1.01 1.23  
3-year Sharpe Ratio 0.79 0.85  
3-year Volatility 14.1 17.2 14.8

The Henderson fund outperformed its sector average in nine out of the last ten calendar years, while Polar Capital did so in seven. Henderson did better than its benchmark in six and Polar Capital in four of the ten years. In terms of ten-year performance between the two products, each of the funds held the top slot for five years.  However, the Polar product had the more recent outperformance versus Henderson − in 2015, 2016 and so far in 2017.

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